Chapter 6 · 6.1
Sharing passwords with your team or family
It's best if everyone has their own account with their own password. But sometimes you share a login, such as the online shop, the bank account or the business's social media. Never share these by email, chat or a spreadsheet. Use a shared vault instead. You can read why in the lesson Choosing and using password managers of the Staying safe online course.
In Bitwarden: an organisation with collections
In Bitwarden, you share through an organisation. Inside it, you create collections, for example Online shop, Finance and Social media. For each collection, you decide who has access.
| Type of organisation | Who it's for |
|---|---|
| Free | Two users, two collections. Enough for you and your partner or one colleague. |
| Families (paid) | Up to six users, as many collections as you like. |
| Teams and Enterprise (paid) | As many users as you like, with extra management features such as event logs. |
- Log in to your vault's website (vault.bitwarden.eu) and click New organisation.
- Give the organisation a name, enter an email address and choose the type of organisation.
- Create your collections in the organisation.
- Invite your colleagues or family members with Invite member and give them access to the right collections. They need their own Bitwarden account, in the same region.
- Once someone has accepted the invitation, you still need to confirm them. Only then can they see the shared items.
- To put an item in a collection, open the item, choose Assign to collections and select the organisation and the collection.
Please note: An item you move to the organisation belongs to the organisation from then on, not to you. It also no longer appears in the export of your own vault (see Making a backup or export of your vault).
Passing something on once
Do you need to give someone a password just once, for example a web developer? Don't use email. In Bitwarden, you can use Send or Share via link: an encrypted link that expires after a set time or after being opened once. Some of these options are only available in the paid plans. Change the password afterwards, once the job is done.
In KeePassXC: KeeShare
KeePassXC shares a group of entries through a separate file that you put in a shared location, for example a shared folder in Nextcloud.
- Choose Tools, Settings, the KeeShare section, and tick Allow import and Allow export.
- Edit the group you want to share and set it in KeeShare to synchronise with a file in the shared folder. Choose a password for that file.
- Your colleague links a group in their KeePassXC to the same file, with the same password.
Everything in the shared group, and in the groups below it, is shared. So never share your root group. For a team that shares a lot, an organisation in Bitwarden or Vaultwarden is easier.
When someone leaves
- Remove them from the organisation or the shared folder.
- Change the passwords they could see. Removing them from the vault isn't enough: they may have copied or saved them.
- At WebOké: also remove their own logins, for example in Nextcloud (see A colleague is leaving: safely taking over files, calendars and shared folders).